Starting to think about where to move for retirement . . . .

I saw an article about Durango in my news feeds earlier today. Here they discuss strategies for containing tourism. My take is that this is a two dimensional rendering of "July tourism" which I discussed in a previous post.

durangoherald.com

Durango adopts broad new strategy for tourism management

Christian Burney

Love it or hate it, tourism plays a major role in Durango’s economy. Critics say unrestrained tourism is the cause of soaring home prices, parking shortages and traffic congestion, and the jobs the in...

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Make no mistake, July tourism can be really bad with rainbow gatherings and yoga / wildflower / music fests.

Also, there is a serious lag in the mountain towns. Businesses want to be open from 10am to 6pm (max), Wednesday through Sunday. This I believe not only perpetuates the issue of "workforce shortages" and poor work ethic but also says a giant F.U. to locals. It says, we dont care about locals, we just want tourist money. In the mountains, especially during tourist influxes, essentially Sunday night = Friday night, Monday = Saturday and Tuesday = Sunday for locals ... before the tourism starts up again and the process repeats. This can get very overwhelming if it is happening right out your window.

If money was not a barrier an ideal year would be:

December - mountains

January - mountains

February - mountains

March - mountains

April - beach (avoid depressing mud season)

May - mountains

June - mountains

July - northwoods on private lake

August - mountains

September - mountains

October - mountains

November - 2 week trip to fun city, then back to the mountains

Best option is north west michigan, then rent a condo in SC or Fla for a few months each year to get away from 9 months of winter. Full snowbird. NW mich often voted most beutiful place in US and midwest COL.

I hope his clients don’t listen to you since you are ignorant of tax law. CO has an exclusion for IRA income (20k) which makes it a very low tax state for middle class retirees. GA does something similiar.

CA is also a surprising low tax state for the middle class retiree because of the progressive tax code. Your married couple with 50k of SS and 50k Ira pays 700 bucks in taxes. Minnesota would be 3k and New Mexico is 2700. With taxes you always need to put in your exact situation and think about all the stuff besides income taxes. Property and sales taxes can easily dominate when you are retired.

Boulder bro

Another idea might be Duluth. It seems most people here don’t have a clue about where to Nordic ski reliably. Duluth has a small airport with connections to other hubs.

I still think NH and Vt are good choices, as would be Bozeman, Durango.

Boulder is great choice because we have the Thursday night cruisers and the Lime scooters

I get the reason for wanting good medical facilities, but I don't see the reason for needing to be near a major airport. And this is from someone with 2.7 million United miles alone, who used to fly 50+ times a year.

Major hubs like Atlanta and Denver are a pain to fly out of. You need to leave the house 3 hours in advance, deal with traffic to the airport, remote parking, long walks in the concourse, etc. Alternatively, if your town's airport is a feeder to a major hub, like Grand Junction, Montrose, Durango (these are just examples), you can often park next to the terminal and be at the gate within 5 minutes. Get a pass to your favorite airline lounge and transfers at a major airport are not a big deal. It just seems like that would open up more otions for you to consider.

Also, there is some excellent nordic skiing in southern Utah within a reasonable drive from St George, which has great hiking and trail running with very mild winters. Cedar City is even closer and right next to mountains but it is a conservative culture and you will probably feel like an outsider.

suu.edu

7 Best: Cross Country Skiing and Snowshoeing Spots in Southern Utah | SUU

For your snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, open up the possibilities of adventure destinations as well as seeing your favorite places in a whole new light.

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You probably want to live in Portland Maine or the surrounding area.

Good points re: the airports. It would just be nice to be able to fly nonstop, as opposed to always having to make a connection somewhere.

This is classic. Flagpole calling someone else “Weirdo”.

Ok. To each his own. There are ways to make both of those things tolerable.

Don't ruin the thread. Your first post on page 1 or 2 was fine, but now you have taken out the cudgel and you are making an interesting thread garbage. Sometimes it's better keep your thoughts to yourself.

Maybe with kids but we're too old to look for out of state license plates or playing "I spy with my little eye" games.

He's a small man incapable of escaping identity politics programming. It's fascinating to observe, like a wounded insect. He'll die on that hill.

Durango is pretty insane in the summer. Grand Junction is a good alternative. It is more of a fully functional small city than a tourist/college town. Some sanity is returning to the real estate market after COVID sent prices through the roof. The tourist season is not that bad and the city is big enough to be able to handle the summer season. Both Durango and Grand Junction are pretty far from a real airport. It is about 5 hours to either Salt Lake or Denver from Grand Junction. Durango is about 4 hours to ABQ.

What? The country is currently governed on identity politics.

+1 for NH. I live in central NH and have a place up in the Whites, not far from Plymouth. I'm a big Nordic skiier and that is definitely a solid area with a relatively reliable season. And depending on where you need to go, Manchester can work pretty well as an airport. I much prefer flying from there because it is so low-stress, but you've always got Boston if you need/want a particular direct or international flight. When I fly from BOS, I usually drive down to Anderson RTC in Woburn, MA and take the Logan Express Bus, which is also pretty easy. Anyway, if you like MN, I think NH is worth a look -- I find them very similar in many ways.